Hunter in the Darkness
by AthanMortis
Summary: Harry is sure he's screwed. Voldemort has captured him, and it's only a matter of time before he takes an AK to the face. ...So why was he just dumped in this crazy castle? The Hogwarts students know, but they can only watch.
1. Well This Can't Be Good

**None of the stuff you recognize from canon belongs to me. Pretty sure that's obvious. I won't be stating this again, as once per story should be more than enough. Now, on with the show!**

* * *

Harry Potter's family was currently extremely demoralized.

Not the Dursleys. They don't factor into this.

Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna all sat in a compartment of the Hogwarts Express on their way to their sixth (or in some cases fifth) year at school, trying to distract themselves. Ron and Neville were having a chess match as Hermione read a book, Shakespeare in place of a schoolbook, this time, while Luna went through an upside down issue of the Quibbler and Ginny munched on some Bertie Bott's beans.

The only sounds in the compartment were Ron and Neville's whispered commands to their pieces and the scrape of turning pages. Luna sighed as she glanced up at the others, eyes sad. They were all trying to avoid thinking about the circumstances of their sixth member after the events of the previous week. She closed her eyes to try to keep the tears from coming.

The events of the week before had been seared into her mind, and again, she couldn't keep from remembering.

* * *

 _Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys had just arrived in Diagon Alley. They'd left their school shopping late, the Order worried about their safety, and now only a week remained till school started again. As a consequence, they'd arrived when the Alley was at its most crowded, the place packed with people, all moving around with purpose despite the obvious tension in the air now that everybody knew Voldemort was back._

 _After promising Mrs. Weasley that they'd be careful, Harry, Ron and Hermione had gone their own way._

 _"Bloody hell, I can barely move…" Ron grunted as he forced himself between a couple of shoppers, trying to make it to Flourish and Blotts but being slowed by the crowds._

 _"It is pretty absurd." Hermione agreed, having more trouble than her slim companions due to her curvier figure and assets._

 _Harry, who was only a few steps behind Ron, grunted as he was practically shoulder checked into a shop window, once again cursing his short stature. He had really been hoping for a growth spurt by now, but it looked like it was not to be. He seemed to be destined to be the shortest boy in their year forever._

 _If the trio had been hoping for a respite once they reached the shop, they were sadly mistaken. While they could move more freely among the stacks of books, that really only meant that they could take slightly longer steps._

 _"For crying out loud, how are we supposed to get any shopping done like this?" Harry growled in irritation as the trio moved to the side in a section regarding household magic, which wasn't as trafficked by shoppers._

 _Ron ran a hand through his hair. "You got me. I'm afraid I'll hit someone in the face if I lift my arms."_

 _"It is quite an ordeal, isn't it?" Came a dreamy voice from among the crowd._

 _Harry turned and smiled as a petite blonde made her way towards them, a thick book on runes in her arms. "Hello Luna. Good summer?"_

 _Luna nodded happily as she stopped beside him. "Oh yes. Daddy and I had a marvelous time out on our magizoological expedition. I saw so many interesting creatures. I almost brought home a very pretty sort of butterfly that could change colors, but I decided to leave it where it was. I took pictures, though!"_

 _"I look forward to seeing them later." Harry said, making Luna beam._

 _"Oh bloody hell…" Ron said before moving forward to help Neville out of the crowd, the no longer quite so portly boy breathing heavily and catching his breath after apparently almost being squeezed to death by the crowds._

 _"Thanks… huff… Ron…" He said with his hands on his knees._

 _Harry clapped a hand on Neville's shoulder. "How you been, mate? I should have written and asked before, but your gran wasn't too angry about your wand, was she? I'll pay for the replacement, if she wants."_

 _Neville shook his head before looking at Harry with a smile. "Actually, she was really proud of me. Said I'd done something to bring honor to the family name. She was happy to buy me a new one." He brought his new wand out. "Thirteen inches, made of Cherry and with a Unicorn Hair core." He said proudly._

 _"It's very nice, Neville." Hermione said with a smile._

 _"Looks like the crowd's thinned out some." Ron said. "Let's hurry and grab our stuff while we can."_

 _"Good idea. Then we can all go to Fortescue's for ice-cream, my treat." Harry said._

 _The group quickly gathered their books and brought them to the counter to be rung up by the harried attendant before heading back out into the crowded street. It was a relief when they finally made it to the ice cream parlor._

 _It took some time to find seats, but they managed to find a large enough table to seat all of them. They sat and enjoyed the brief reprieve from the crowds, and Luna was laughing madly at one of Ron's dumb jokes when Ginny came upon them and slumped into the last free seat at the table._

 _"Ugh, finally got away from mum." She stretched like a cat, making Harry and Neville look away with light blushes as the action made her budding breasts more prominent. Ron scowled at them, but was prevented from doing anything as she continued. "Geez, these crowds are horrible. It took almost forty minutes just to get me robes."_

 _Hermione licked her spoon. "Yes, it is pretty annoying. We've only managed to go to get our books before Harry decided we needed ice cream."_

 _"Like you're really complaining." Harry said with a smirk._

 _"So I guess you haven't gone to Fred and George's shop yet, then?" Ginny said._

 _Neville shook his head. "No, not yet. Did you?"_

 _"I haven't gone in, but I saw the building. It's just like them, loud and obnoxious." She said with a giggle._

 _Ron snorted. "Shocking."_

 _As they continued talking, Ginny getting some ice cream of her own, Luna noted the look on Harry's face as he watched them interact, a soft sort of smile. "Harry, what is it?"_

 _"Hmm?" He glanced at Luna. "Just glad to be with my family again, that's all."_

 _Luna was surprised, her eyes widening. "Family?"_

 _Harry took a bite of his never melting ice cream as the group turned to him. "I had a lot of time to think while I was stuck at my relatives' house." He said. "After what happened at the Department of Mysteries, I had to take time to get my head on straight. I'd just lost Sirius, and even if I'm not entirely to blame, I do bear at least some guilt."_

 _"Oh Harry…" Hermione murmured sadly._

 _"I found out through the Daily Prophet that he was innocent and your Godfather. I'm sorry, Harry." Neville said gently, prompting a soft smile from Harry._

 _"Thanks mate." He took another bite before continuing to talk. "I was thinking that I didn't have family left. My Aunt and Uncle don't count." Nobody said anything regarding the venom in his voice at the last words. They all had some small idea that Harry's home life wasn't exactly stellar, but only Ron had a real clue about it, remembering the bars on the window before their second year. "Then I had a sort of revelation prompted by the TV." He said with a small grin._

 _"The TV, Harry?" Hermione asked, surprised. She'd never really been one for television, preferring books, though she always had time for Doctor Who._

 _Harry tapped his finger against the table before continuing as everybody watched him intently. "'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.'" He quoted, voice pensive._

 _"Shakespeare." Hermione said, surprised. "Henry V."_

 _Harry smiled as he nodded. "Yes. When I heard that on the telly…" He looked at his two best friends, a soft look in his emerald eyes. "After everything we've gone through, Ron and Hermione are closer to me than anyone else. We've done things you wouldn't believe together. Seen wonders and horrors. They are my brother and sister."_

 _Hermione teared up at his words, and Ron became a bit choked up as well, the tips of his ears red as he looked away._

 _Then Harry turned his gaze to the others. "But a few months ago, you all willingly came with me to the Ministry, despite knowing we'd end up in a fight. You fought by my side, and all of you got hurt. So I realized…" He offered them all a soft smile. "I apparently have more siblings than I thought."_

 _Luna stared at Harry, slightly shocked, while Ginny bit her lip, blushing terribly, and Neville couldn't help but straighten his back in sheer pride._

 _"Thank you for being at my side, guys." Harry said, his smile widening at their reactions._

 _Luna offered him a slightly tremulous smile. "Any time… Big Brother."_

 _The group went silent after that, all lost in their thoughts, but feeling a closer bond than they had before._

 _Which, of course, is when the sounds of multiple apparition cracks rang out, followed by the unmistakable boom of an explosion and the chorus of people screaming._

 _The group immediately jumped to their feet and moved towards the windows, wands in their hands. Ron groaned. "Really? They had to pick bloody today?"_

 _"Voldemort is way too good at fucking up my day." Harry groused as well. "Seriously, he needs a damn hobby."_

 _"What's the plan, Harry?" Ginny asked as she watched people desperately try to get away, the density of the crowd working against them, offering the dozen Death Eaters a perfect target rich environment._

 _"Stay in cover, survival is a priority, but beyond that don't hold back. Use every non-lethal option you've got to put them down. We can't afford to play around like we did in the Ministry. Try to take and/or destroy their wands if possible. They'll be useless without them." He took a breath before shaking his head. "I should have focused more on combat scenarios and practical applications in the DA rather than just teach spells."_

 _"Well, you can adjust your lesson plans accordingly for next year." Neville said, gripping his new wand tightly. "Are we ready?"_

 _They all tensed before Harry whispered "Go, go, go" as he dashed out, flipping one of the outdoor tables onto its side and ducking behind it, aiming his wand at the nearest Death Eater, who had a woman under the Cruciatus, laughing. He launched a bludgeoning spell at him and watched, satisfied as it impacted the man's arm, breaking it and making him cry out in pain, his wand dropping from his fingers._

 _Ginny, who was kneeling beside him, launched her infamous Bat-Bogey Hex, making a Death Eater shriek in surprise as his mask was knocked off by the gigantic wings emerging from his nose, revealing Crabbe Sr., who flailed about as he panicked trying to get them off._

 _Several of the Death Eaters turned towards the defending students, and the group could tell that they were surprised to encounter resistance. That didn't stop one of the masked wizards from launching an ugly orange spell at them which barely missed Neville as he dashed across the alley to take cover in a shop's entryway._

 _Luna launched her hare patronus from behind another table to harass the enemy, who couldn't do anything to get rid of it as it darted about, even though a couple stupidly launched spells at it. Crouched beside her, Ron launched blasting curses at the floor underneath the Death Eaters, hoping to make them lose their balance or, even better, break their legs. It caused the enemy some issues as they had to keep dodging._

 _Hermione was in the ice cream shop's doorway, most of her form hidden from view, as she stuck out her wand and launched a barrage of esoteric spells which the Death Eaters had trouble defending against, one of them, a woman for once, dropping to the ground as she let out some rather inappropriate moaning, her hips moving suggestively. Harry and Ron couldn't help briefly glancing at Hermione with raised eyebrows, to which she simply blushed and shrugged._

 _The group wasn't having it all their way, however. More Death Eaters turned from the random mayhem they were causing to focus on the opposition now that a lot of the shoppers had run away. Their cover was slowly being destroyed as the dark wizards launched far more damaging spells than the students could. So Harry made a decision. "Neville, Hermione, focus on defense and covering the rest of us! We'll stay on offense!"_

 _The group immediately shifted tactics, Neville and Hermione focusing on using shielding spells and levitating debris into the path of various spells. This allowed Harry, Ron, Luna and Ginny to focus on attacking, their offensive spells coming faster now that they didn't have to worry about protecting themselves as much._

 _Eventually Harry caught sight of something that made his eyes narrow. A stocky Death Eater was emerging from Ollivander's store, the elderly wand maker being dragged along._

 _Harry didn't know what Voldemort wanted with the man, but he wasn't going to let them take him without a fight. He whispered to his cover companion. "Ginny, shift your focus on the Death Eater in the back with Ollivander with me. We need to get him free and give him a chance to escape. Once he gets away from the Death Eater's grip, focus on protecting him from any spellfire while I resume the attack."_

 _Ginny nodded and after a moment the two shifted focus to aim at the enemy holding Ollivander, launching a blistering assault of spells at him._

 _The Death Eater was caught by surprise and quickly fell to the assault, his grip on the old man breaking as he dropped to the ground, various undesirable effects on his body._

 _"RUN!" Harry yelled at him, and Ollivander didn't need to be told twice, moving away as fast as he could while Ginny protected him from errant spells._

 _"Damn you, you mudbloods and blood traitors!" A Death Eater screamed as he saw his objective escaping, unable to follow due to the group's assault. He snarled out a spell, and the debris around them suddenly shifted into stone animals that attacked Harry and his friends._

 _The group immediately had to shift to defend themselves against wolves, snakes, bears and other golems that were coming in to maul them. They managed to destroy the various constructs, but this meant that the Death Eaters had managed to move into a more advantageous position, making the fight harder._

 _Harry was desperately trying to think of what to do, and wondering there the hell the aurors were, his eyes darting around the alley for something he could use. His eyes stopped at the sight of a group of Death Eaters beside a store that sold premade potions and his mind clicked with an idea. "Neville, see that potions shop?" He asked._

 _Neville glanced at it, seeing into it from his angle, seeing bubbling cauldrons full of liquids of various colors. "Yeah?"_

 _Harry's eyes glinted. "Imagine you're in Potions with Snape, and he's right behind you, watching you."_

 _Neville shuddered, but he got the idea after a few moments. Immediately he aimed his wand and concentrated, murmuring under his breath. Unseen by the Death Eaters, cauldrons in the shop began to levitate, pouring their contents into other cauldrons, causing various reactions. Neville kept this up for several minutes, his muttering growing faster as the Death Eaters started gaining ground in the fight without him helping. Finally, the reaction he was hoping for happened, and one of the cauldrons exploded violently, causing a chain reaction in the store._

 _One of the Death Eaters only had time to glance at the sound of the explosion when a blast of multicolored fire blasted out of the shop, sending him and his fellows flying, slamming into the other shops and onto the ground several yards away from where they'd been. Later the aurors would find the Death Eaters suffering from a variety of maladies, from boils to burns. They would not be having a fun time._

 _With over half of their number down, things were looking bad for the Death Eaters, especially as they hadn't managed to inflict more than some minor wounds on their opponents. An embarrassment, considering they were dealing with school children. They were just about to portkey away when the tide changed yet again._

 _There was a softer than usual crack of apparition, and everything stopped as Voldemort arrived on the scene. He turned to his followers before speaking softly, his high pitched voice dangerous. "Why have you not returned yet?" His red eyes traveled along them, lingering on the fallen. "Where is Ollivander? And who have you been fighting? The aurors should have been delayed enough for you to be able to accomplish your mission without any trouble." Abruptly he turned, quick as a striking snake, to parry a piercing spell aimed at his back, his eyes narrowed as the landed on the half standing form of Harry, who's wand was aimed at him. "Ah, why am I not surprised? Hello Harry."_

 _"Tom…" He said, eyes serious even as Voldemort's nostrils flared at the use of his true name. "I've got to ask, do you have any hobbies? Normal hobbies, I mean? Because ruining my day all the time isn't a valid use of your time."_

 _"Laugh all you want, Harry, but soon I will be more powerful than I ever was before." Voldemort said silkily._

 _Harry raised an eyebrow. "Really? What, did you find a TARDIS? Maybe a Death Star?"_

 _"I have no idea what you're prattling on about, boy. No, I've entered into a lucrative partnership. I've already received a, how shall I put it… a down payment. Once the rest of the deal goes into effect in a a few weeks, not even that old fool Dumbledore will be able to stand against me." Voldemort said with a sick smile, eyes glinting malevolently. As Harry made to speak, eyes furrowed, he continued. "Not that it'll matter to you and your little friends, Harry." He raised his wand at Harry, who immediately went on the attack._

 _"GUYS, RUN!" Harry yelled as he launched a desperate barrage of spells at Voldemort to buy his friends time to escape, each one being parried effortlessly._

 _"Like hell!" Ron snarled as he took aim at a Death Eater who was aiming for Harry. The Death Eater, caught by surprise, dropped with a scream as his wand burst into splinters, mangling his hand._

 _The others attacked as well, keeping the Death Eaters off of Harry while he tried to hold Voldemort off long enough for help to arrive._

 _Harry knew Voldemort was toying with him. He was tiring after fighting this battle for so long, and Voldemort barely even seemed to register his attacks. He'd learned to avoid the brother wand effect by simply batting away the spells rather than launch any of his own. Harry knew that he'd attack the moment the opportunity to do so without activating that effect presented itself, though._

 _Finally, a series of pops rang out from the opposite end of the alley, revealing a mass of aurors with wands at the ready. One of them cried out "Bloody hell, it's You-Know-Who!"_

 _Voldemort frowned. "It seems it's time for this game to end, Harry." He shifted his aim and launched a spell at Ginny, who had stood slightly to better aim at a Death Eater._

 _Harry didn't have time to think. He grabbed Ginny and flung her away with all his strength, the spell catching him in the arm. He was promptly launched through the air, crying out when his shoulder dislocated as he was pulled by it towards Voldemort like a fish on a line._

 _Voldemort grinned darkly as Harry landed at his feet, wandless after dropping it during his flight thanks to the pain. "So predictable, Harry…" He reached down and grabbed Harry, pulling him up slightly with surprising strength before turning to the mass of aurors, who Harry could see included several Order members like Tonks and Kingsley. "Well then, it's been fun, but I must go. I didn't get my original target, but…" He hefted Harry higher. "This seems like a fitting replacement." He laughed, and before anybody would react, he disapparated with Harry in tow, the conscious Death Eaters following suit, leaving only the unconscious and incapacitated ones._

 _Neville was shaking as he stepped out into the open, seeing the girls' shock slowly turn into tears. Ron dropped onto his ass, looking disbelieving._

 _"Bloody hell…"_

* * *

Luna was shaken out of her thoughts as the train began to slow, indicating they were arriving at Hogsmeade. She folded up her paper and put it away in her bag before following her friends out, sticking close to Ginny.

The group walked under the stormy clouds to the thestral drawn carriages, lightning crackling though no rain was falling. They could hear Hagrid's voice calling for the first years, trying to be upbeat for them, yet not sounding like he was managing it.

Silently they all got into a carriage together, feeling it begin to move once the door was shut. Luna looked out the window, her eyes taking in the welcoming sight of Hogwarts, standing firm against the threatening storm, a bastion guarding those who sought its protection. Her leaden heart felt slightly lighter.

It was with reluctance that she went to the Ravenclaw table, wishing she could stay with her friends. But she knew that she had to sit with her house for the Opening Feast.

She did notice she was getting strange looks from her housemates, however. They were glancing at her with curiosity and something else, which it took her a bit to realize was respect. Apparently the news that she had fought not only in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries but the fight in Diagon Alley had had changed some people's opinions of her.

She shrugged it off. While it was nice to think that her school experience might be improving, it felt empty without Harry around.

The Sorting went by without incident, Luna clapping at the appropriate moments, and the food was delicious as always, but it was when Dumbledore stood to make his normal start of term announcements that things went wrong.

"I want to welcome everybody back to Hogwarts for another year of learning." The aged Headmaster set his hands on the table in front of him. "I know that many of you feel fear and apprehension in these dark times, especially due to… recent events." His gaze flicked to the Gryffindor table, which had been despondent all evening, nothing like its usual boisterous self. "No matter what, we must remember that even in the darkest nights, the dawn is always-" He was interrupted by the students starting to scream at something behind him, making him whirl around with his wand out and at the ready.

Projected on the wall of the hall behind the teachers' table, like a muggle cinema screen, Voldemort leered down at them all with a smirk, a group of masked Death Eaters standing silently behind him. " _Hello, Hogwarts."_

"Voldemort." Dombledore glowered as the other teachers gathered around him, wands at the ready. "What are you doing?"

Voldemort's smirk widened, his red eyes glinting malevolently. " _Well Albus, I wanted to contact you all and share some news you will all no doubt be overjoyed to hear. But first, we should wait for our guests, shouldn't we?"_

"Guests?" Dumbledore asked, only to turn, wand at the ready, as the doors to the Great Hall opened, admitting Amelia Bones and a group of aurors, who stopped in their tracks at the sight of the projection of Voldemort on the wall.

"Albus." Bones began. "I suppose this is the emergency you owled my department about?"

" _That was my doing, actually. I thought the prospective Minister should be present for this."_ Voldemort said, still looking sadistically gleeful.

"Present for what, exactly?" Dumbledore asked calmly, though his eyes were like chips of ice.

Voldemort spread his arms wide. " _Rejoice, Hogwarts, for your savior, Harry Potter, is alive!"_

There were gasps throughout the hall, and Luna felt hope bloom in her chest. She glanced to see Hermione on the verge of tears, Ron gripping her shoulder.

Then Voldemort continued, and Luna felt that faint ember of hope almost gutter out completely.

" _…And now, you all will see him –die-."_ The monster said with a sick grin on his pale lips, prompting screams and cries of denial.

"What've ye done!" Hagrid roared.

Voldemort laughed. " _I decided that, as satisfying as killing him myself would be, I would much rather the insolent little brat die in fear and agony."_ He leered down at Dumbledore. " _I left him in a certain castle in Transylvania."_

Dumbledore wasn't the only one to pale at that news. McGonagall spoke up in disbelief. "That place has been lost for centuries! If the governments of the world knew its location, an army of wizards and magically aware muggle troops would march on it immediately!"

" _I was able to find it, after carefully searching and following clues. Nothing is impossible for someone such as Lord Voldemort."_ He grinned. " _Now, you will all get to see the last moments of that wretched little thorn in my side. I have placed a monitoring charm on him so we can see every instant of his demise."_ He chuckled darkly. " _Please, enjoy."_

Voldemort's image disappeared, replaced by something else. "Harry!" Hermione screamed.

Indeed, it was Harry. He sat in what looked like a cell, similar to what there was in the deepest of Hogwarts' dungeons, except for the fact that this cell had a high window that let moonlight in.

Harry was sitting on the ground, back against a corner, eyeing the heavy wooden door warily. His clothing was tattered, and his limbs gave an occasional involuntary twitch. Despite the babble of voices in the hall it wasn't hard to hear Pomphrey mention Cruciatus exposure. It made Luna feel sick.

Several people, including Ron and Ginny, tried calling out to Harry, but it was obvious he couldn't hear them. This experience was one way only.

For over ten minutes everybody watched the screen, waiting for whatever Voldemort had planned to come to pass. The teachers had half-heartedly tried getting the students to leave, but not even the first years moved from their seats, and the effort was abandoned. Bones was in a furious discussion with Dumbledore and the other teachers, all of them glancing at the screen constantly.

Everything stopped when the door to Harry's cell rattled. Everybody turned to stare as Harry got up, his eyes wary as his muscles tensed, ready for anything. There were gasps as the door opened and a figure entered, followed by several screams as they saw what it was.

An animated skeleton entered the room. Its gait was slow and ponderous as it entered before turning its eye sockets towards, a baleful fire in them that glared at Harry with obvious malevolence.

The Hogwarts denizens watched as Harry tensed, his eyes narrowing as he glared at the skeleton. They held their breaths as the two glared at each other before the skeleton suddenly launched itself at Harry, its taloned hands reached out to rip into Harry.

Harry dodged, having obvious trouble due to whatever Voldemort had done to him, but he turned and swung his fist at the thing's skull, making it rock back. _"Fuck!"_ He yelled in pain from striking hard bone with his bare fist, the first word they heard from him since the projection began, but took the opportunity to run out of the cell.

He was in a hallway lit by guttering torches and high windows, full of doors to more cells. The sounds of movement were all around him, and several of the doors rattled. Harry's eyes were zipping around as they tried to find a way out.

 _"Alright, Potter, think, which way is the exit?"_ He snarled to himself before one of the doors banged open, something growling menacingly from within the darkness. _"…Nope."_ He turned in the opposite direction and began to run like hell.

About a minute or so later the students screamed when Harry almost slammed headfirst against a zombie in samurai armor, of all things, dripping blood and shambling forward with a katana in its hand, which had been around the corner he'd just taken. It raised it arm and brought the sword down on a frantically backpedaling Harry, who was cursing loudly, the chipped blade becoming further damaged as it struck the stone floor.

Hearing more movement from behind him Harry took a breath and stepped forward with a kick, slamming his foot against the walking corpse's wrist. It let go of the sword and Harry quickly dove down to grab the blood slick hilt before scrambling back to his feet and beginning to run around the zombie, which flailed as it tried to catch him.

Once he was around another corner he looked down at his new weapon. " _Not a wand, but definitely better than nothing."_

Hermione moaned in fear. Her fingernails close to carving furrows in her cheeks. "Harry, you don't know how to use a sword…"

"He's got to use something, Hermione." Dean said from where he sat, eyes riveted on the scene in front of him.

"Besides, he used a sword in the Chamber." Ginny pointed out.

Harry continued running, trying to find a way out of whatever prison he was in. He came across another zombie, this one unarmed and unarmored, dressed solely in rags. Harry, rather clumsily, swung his sword at its neck with a grunt of effort. The blade cut through the rotting flesh with only moderate difficulty, and surprisingly for an already dead thing, a large amount of blood sprayed out, some hitting Harry in the face, prompting some curses from several students and a couple of aurors.

Harry pulled the sword free as the monster dropped to the ground, its head rolling away, and tried to wipe his face clean with his ragged sleeve. " _For the love of… Why can't things be easy for once?"_

As Harry tried to at least clear his vision, several students started crying out as they saw something moving behind Harry that he hadn't noticed. They desperately tried to get his attention even though they knew it was futile.

It was luck that saved him. The figure's feet scraped the floor as it pounced at Harry, and he managed to whirl around after hearing it in time to bring his arms up as the thing crashed against him, forcing him back a step.

It was a small humanoid that would barely come up to Harry's knees. Its eyes were red, and bulging with madness, spittle drooling from its lips as it shrieked madly, trying to gauge out his eyes with small, clawed fingers.

 _"Gerrof me, you little bastard!"_ Harry growled as he tried to protect himself, finally managing to launch the little monster away. He picked up the sword and swung it like a baseball bat at the monster, which was flying through the air towards his face in a prodigious jump considering its size. The sword crashed into the little beast and bit deeply into its body before launching it against the wall.

Harry panted as he caught his breath, eyeing the small form warily to make sure it didn't move again. _"Alright, seriously, where the bloody fuck did Voldemort dump me?"_

After a minute to catch his breath her resumed running. He could see a large door at the far end of the corridor he was currently in and began making his way to it, only to yelp as something small struck the stone in front of him from another hallway intersecting his own. He moved into cover before peering around the corner, seeing a trio of skeletal figures with what looked like early nineteenth century muskets in their hands.

"What are those things they're holding?" A Hufflepuff pureblood student asked.

"They're guns." A nearby Ravenclaw said, frowning. "They launch small pieces of metal with a lot of force, piercing through flesh and some armor."

Harry, everybody saw, quickly had to pull his head back as it was almost shot off. The skeleton that had just shot reloaded its weapon as the other two kept their own leveled with inhuman steadiness.

Harry took a breath. " _Alright, no choice but to try. You can do this…"_ Getting ready to run he tensed before dashing towards the other wall of the hallway. A trio of shots rang out, and the students gasped as he cried out in pain, though he didn't stop till he was back in safety.

"Oh god, where was he hit!?" Hermione asked almost hysterically.

Harry reached down and groaned as he felt the rip in his pants, which had a bit of blood, but nothing serious. " _Whew, just a scratch…"_ The he frowned and shouted back down the hallway. _"Did you seriously just shoot me in the ass!?"_

There was some startled laughter in the Great Hall, the students not expecting something so humorous to happen in this situation. Everybody watched as Harry continued walking, grumbling to himself and approaching the door.

Inside was a decently furnished room, nothing high class, but utilitarian. It was the large window with a balcony that drew Harry's attention though. He quickly opened it and stepped out before gasping, as did almost the entirety of those watching.

Harry could now see he was in a high tower of a castle bigger than Hogwarts by far. By the light of the full moon he could see a large wall surrounding what looked like a medieval city on the castle's grounds, a large lake partly within the perimeter. Beyond that he could see that he was in a valley surrounded by mountains.

The room he was in was higher in the air than the Hogwarts Astronomy tower, and looking up he found he was only about three quarters of the way up the entire height of the castle. The entire place emanated an air of darkness and mystery.

Harry stared around before sighing. " _Great. Something tells me getting out of here won't be so easy…"_

He looked up as something monstrous flew by, obscuring the light of the moon.

 _"…Fuck."_

* * *

 ** _Welcome to my new fic. As should be obvious, this story won the poll for what I should write next. Never fear though, the others will eventually get at least first chapters as well._**

 ** _I meant to have this out by Friday, but work, laziness and procrastination took their toll, so this is this week's story. Brightest will be updated next week._**

 ** _So, some things to point out about this story. The concept of Harry being stuck in Castlevania is actually an unused idea for the beginning of Brightest in Shadow. It was this, or Silent Hill. I decided on Silent Hill because it would have a bit more long-term impact in how it affects Harry personally and psychologically. Not to mention a trip through Drac's place would take longer than SH did._**

 ** _However, I found this idea too good to just drop, so I added the concept of Harry being watched as he tries to survive and added some more planned events for him to endure. More bosses, etc._**

 ** _So, in light of that, I do want to let you all know that this story will have some similarities with the Silent Hill portion of Brightest. Again, they were, after all, both being considered, and they would have had similar roles. The power of trapped souls will be one of them. That said, it will still be its own separate thing, with just as many differences as similarities. It's not as dark, for one thing. This is more of a horror themed action romp, as Castlevania should be. Too bad Konami forgot that._**

 ** _Fuck Konami. I feel that needs to be said. I kickstarted Bloodstained for a reason._**

 ** _Honestly not sure how I'll do with the audience aspect of the story. It's something experimental. I've always wanted to do one of those fics where characters read their books and such, so this will be an interesting experience. Hope it goes well._**

 ** _I think that's all I needed to say. Hope you enjoyed, and please review._**

 ** _Oh yeah, forgot to say, I have decided that this fic's theme song shall be Indestructible by Disturbed. Take that as you will._**


	2. Accessorizing

Hermione was terrified as she, along with the rest of the occupants of the Great Hall, watched Harry study the landscape of… wherever he was.

She'd been in a constant state of agony ever since her best friend was captured, unable to keep her prodigious mind from imagining the horrible things he could be going through at every moment. She was ecstatic to know Harry was alive, of course, but that didn't mean she didn't worry about his wellbeing. For all they knew he could have been tortured till he broke like the Longbottoms.

She clenched her fists. Knowing that Harry was trapped in a huge castle larger than Hogwarts filled with monsters was horrible, although she couldn't stop the ember of hope in her heart. If there was anything Harry was good at, it was getting out of situations like this.

Her attention was dragged back to Harry as he sighed.

 _"You know, Murphy, it would be bloody amazing if you could just pick on someone else for once."_ He moved back from the window, shutting it again. _"…Asshole."_ He turned back into the room, moving to a chest in the corner, trying to open it only to find it was locked. _"Damn."_ He made his way to the desk, rooting around in it.

"Why does he want to open the chest?" A second year Hufflepuff asked.

"Probably to find something he can use. A wand, or some other kind of weapon." Terry Boot said. "He can't just use that damaged sword, after all."

Harry moved a small book to the side before stopping and glancing at it. _"Prisoner Belongings Manifest."_ A smirk lit his face and he opened it, pushing his glasses up on his nose. _"This should have something interesting…"_ He began paging through it, stopping momentarily as his arm shook lightly. _"Let's see… gold… tobacco… hmm, what's this?"_ He bent forward as he began reading out loud (to the appreciation of his audience). _"'Lady Lisa's handmaiden, Megissa, was discovered to be working against the Lord's crusade, ostensibly to honor her Lady's last wishes. She was captured as she finished creating an item of power with her magic and knowledge of alchemy, though we know not what it does. I placed the item, a gauntlet of silver with a large multi-coloured jewel, with the other prisoner effects. I will bring it to the Lord to be inspected later, after the woman is execu-' Huh, looks like he got cut off. Literally, if the blood on the page is any indication."_ He stood up and rubbed his chin. _"Hmm, an item of power, huh? Could be useful."_ He went back to rooting through the drawers as the students began discussing what they'd just heard amongst themselves.

Neville turned to Hermione. "What do you think it is? It has to be powerful it was created using special alchemy."

Hermione shrugged without looking at him. "I don't know, Neville. Whatever it is, it must have been important if this woman was willing to die to make sure it was created." Then she got up and made her way towards the group of teachers and Ministry personnel. Ron, Neville and Ginny glanced at each other before getting up and following her, Luna rushing up to join them.

Dumbledore turned away from one of the Aurors, a sallow faced man who looked permanently irritated, to look at his students. "Yes children? How can we help you?"

"Professor, could you tell us where Harry is? You seemed like you knew." Hermione asked politely but firmly.

The auror Dumbledore had been speaking with sneered at her. "You don't need to know, girly. The Ministry is working on it, so don't stick your-"

"That's enough, Auror Daniels." Dumbledore said firmly, making the man snap his jaw shut. The Headmaster addressed his students. "I see no harm in telling you where he is. Doubtless you would find out by watching what's happening anyway."

Before he could continue, however, everyone heard Harry let out a small cry of triumph as he held up a key. He quickly moved to the chest and opened it as he began rooting through it. Before long he pulled out the gauntlet the manifest spoke of and held it up, studying it and letting his voyeuristic audience do the same.

It was a beautiful item, polished silver that reflected the light like a mirror, pristine and almost awe inspiring, especially once they spotted the intricate scrollwork all about it, making it look more like a work of art than a piece of armor. What really drew the eye was the jewel, however.

It was a large orb, about the size of a fist, smooth and perfect. It had a spot of black in its center, from which tendrils of color seemed to radiate, making it look like a large, slit, multicolored eye. It was affixed to the spot that would cover the back of the hand and the joint of the wrist. As Harry gazed at it, it seemed to gaze back.

 _"Well then, what do you do?"_ Harry asked as he studied the gauntlet. He was interrupted when there was a bang that rattled the door as something tried to get in, making several of those watching gasp in surprise. Harry turn to the door, eyes narrowing, before he looked down at the gauntlet.

"Harry, you don't know what it does!" Ginny said, to no avail as Harry placed it on his right arm.

The gauntlet was obviously enchanted in some fashion, as despite not having any straps it attached itself to Harry's arm. He moved his arm and hand as the door continued to rattle, testing his range of motion. It seemed as though he wasn't impaired at all, having no trouble moving naturally. Then he picked up his stolen katana and got into a stance nobody watching believed was an actual sword stance except in passing. Then the door bust open, and two zombies exactly like the samurai one he'd stolen his sword from appeared in the doorway.

One of the samurai zombies stepped laboriously into the room, while the other stayed in the doorway, blocking his escape, their dead eyes locked on him, a gurgling sound emanating from their throats, blood weeping from their eyes and mouths. Many students cringed at the sight of them.

The first zombie cam at Harry, arm raised to bring its sword down on his head. Harry dodged the clumsy swing and made a swing of his own, his chipped blade coming around like a baseball bat once again to strike the monster in its armored chest.

The zombie turned with surprising speed and swung again. Harry brought his now armored arm up to block, the blade bouncing off the enchanted silver and making him stumble back from the surprising amount of force imparted by the blow. Harry moved back out of range and held his sword up again. The zombie took another shuffling step forwards and Harry waited.

The zombie came in with a side swing and Harry ducked under it before springing up, his sword coming up to stab at his enemy's head. The zombie could not react in time as the tip of the sword slammed into its unprotected jaw and up into its skull. Harry's sword broke as it fell over, leaving most of its length buried in the decaying head of the zombie.

The students cheered at his victory before suddenly being struck silent as something, some sort of reddish light, left the monster's still body and entered the jewel on the gauntlet. The eye like orb glowed once before going back to its normal look. Harry looked at it, confused. _"What was…?"_ He was interrupted by the sound of the second monster moving into the room towards him.

He bent over and picked up his previous opponent's katana and the Hogwarts contingent saw an odd look cross his face before he got into a stance.

A proper swordsman's stance, many noted.

He looked sure on his feet and prepared, his blade pointed at his enemy, unlike before, where he got into an obviously makeshift position. The difference was obvious.

"Wha?" Ron eloquently expressed everybody's confusion. Then the fight began.

Harry came in, attacking first this time. His movements were fluid and confident, bringing the damaged katana around and taking one of the zombie's arms off at the elbow, exploiting a gap in its armor. He then moved back and parried his enemy's swing, turning with the momentum to take the thing's head off with a smooth swing.

The zombie dropped and lay still, red light once again leaving its form to enter the gauntlet's jewel. Harry blinked, and his posture shifted as he stared at what he'd done, surprised. _"What the hell…?"_

"Professor, what was that!?" Hermione practically shouted. "Harry has never even held a katana before today, much less trained to be able to use one! And that was, while probably not mastery level, definitely the ability of someone proficient!"

Dumbledore stroked his beard as he watched Harry visibly shake his surprise off and pick up the second sword, obviously intending to keep it ready for whenever his current one broke. Finally, he replied to Hermione, ignoring how the Great Hall had become alight with the whispers of the children discussing what they'd just seen. "I believe, Miss Granger, that this was the power of the gauntlet that he now wields. This is just a guess, mind you, but those things were clearly once samurai. They may be dead, but some of their skill remains, otherwise they would not have been able to attack as they did. If I'm correct, then the gauntlet somehow took at least some of their ability and gave it to Harry, allowing him to use their swordsmanship skills."

Ginny stepped forward, her eyes on Harry as he peeked back out into the hallway. "Do you think it'll work only on skills like swordsmanship, or will it work on anything?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "I do not know, Miss Weasley. I imagine we will find out. However, if it is the latter case, then the more enemies Harry defeats, the better his abilities, and the odds of him escaping."

The students closest to the group began to pass along what was said to their housemates, ensuring that everybody would know in a short time, but none of those there really cared.

Harry made his way out of the room and back into the hall, peaking around the corner at where the musket skeletons had been, only to yelp as he almost got an eye taken out by a shot from one of them. He stayed against the wall, obviously trying to come up with something.

Finally, everybody saw him take a deep breath before moving into view of the skeletons, running past to the other end of the hall. A shot barely missed him, another going wide, and the last of the three making him stop lest he take the ball to the chest.

Once the last shot had been fired Harry turned, sword in hand, to rush the three skeletons while they were reloading. One managed to finish reloading and took aim at Harry when he was feet away. Harry threw himself to the side as the shot rang out, making the students gasp, and pushed himself off the wall, aiming a kick at the kneeling skeleton's head, smashing the skull to pieces. Surprisingly this didn't stop the skeleton, as it began to flail around with it musket, hitting Harry in the ribs, making him grunt. He jumped a bit to land on the flailing skeleton, crushing it beneath his weight.

By this point the other two had reloaded, but Harry brought his sword up, cutting through one of the muskets before having to dodge the shot of the last one, throwing himself to the side again, banging his shoulder against the wall. Then he reached out and wrenched the musket from the skeleton's relatively feeble grip before using it as a club to smash its skull in.

Seeing as blunt force was obviously better against his current foes than cutting ability he dropped his sword and proceeded to use his new weapon to beat them into shards. Before long all three skeletons were just piles of bones.

Once again, light left the defeated monsters, this time a steelish color, and entered the gauntlet. Harry breathed heavily from the exertion before studying the musket in his hand.

"Since he beat those skeletons, does that mean he'll be able to use the muskets now?" A Ravenclaw third year asked.

"It should." Said a fifth year. "Which is good, since it'll give him a long range option."

Indeed, everybody watched as Harry stripped the skeletons of their powder and ammunition before expertly loading the least damaged of the muskets, slipping his sword into his belt so he could carry it. Then he brought it up to aim down the sights, looking confident with his stance and grip.

A Slytherin spoke now. "Looks like Potter's got a new weapon." Tracey Davis said with a smirk.

Theodore Nott scoffed. "Using a muggle weapon. He should be ashamed."

At that, even Pansy rolled her eyes. "It's not like he has a wand, idiot. He's being smart and using what he can to survive."

Nott scowled and hunched his shoulders at the disapproval of most of his house for his foolishness.

 _"Alright, can't just keep wandering around hoping to get lucky."_ Harry said to himself. _"Gotta figure out a plan."_

He brought the musket back up and at the ready as he began making his way down the halls of the castle. He came to a door a minute or so later and opened it carefully, peeking inside in case of any enemies. Not seeing anything he made his way in and closed the door behind him as silently as he could before moving to a nearby seat and sinking into it, letting out a deep breath and slumping slightly.

Hermione bit her lip at the sight of how exhausted Harry looked. Considering they hadn't been watching for long, she worried about how he'd hold up the longer he was wherever he was.

Speaking of which…

"Professor, you said you'd tell us where Harry is." Luna said quietly, her large eyes focused on Dumbledore's.

"Yes… yes I did." He glanced to see the other nearby students looking attentive and interested before beginning to speak. "I'm sure at least, you, Miss Granger, are aware of Dracula. Am I right?"

Hermione blinked but nodded. "Ah, yes. A mythical vampire that was based on King Vlad Tepes III of Wallachia."

"Yes…" Dumbledore sighed. "As is often the case, history as muggles know it is not the whole story. Dracula was a true vampire. Not only a vampire, but a Vampire Lord, capable of feats that the lesser of his kind would deem impossible. He was also a brilliant man, knowledgeable in both magic and the mundane sciences." Seeing that he now had the entire hall hanging on his every word he spoke a bit louder as he continued. "For many years he lived unmolested in his castle, never deigning to interact with the outside. One day, however, the Catholic Church, with the backing of some wizards, killed one of Dracula's subjects."

"This was a costly mistake. Nobody knows why, but this drove Dracula into a rage. He went mad with fury and declared war against humanity itself. He summoned and created many monsters and demons, directing them against the men of the lands surrounding his castle. The bloodshed lasted years, and Wallachia was devastated before he was finally stopped. Warriors, both muggle and magical, fought their way into Dracula's castle and stopped him. At the cost of their own lives, it is assumed, as none were seen again." Dumbledore stopped to take a sip of water and let what he just said sink in. "However, the castle has its own limited sentience, and the ability to move itself. It disappeared during that climactic battle and has not been seen since, though every ministry in the world has been on the lookout, as the possibility remains that Dracula, being a vampire above all others, could possibly be made to return. And even if he couldn't, the castle is doubtlessly full of things that should not see the light of day."

"And Voldemort found it." Hermione said, a frown on her face and her heart sinking. "Not only is he getting some kind of power out of it, but he also dropped Harry in the middle of the castle to watch him die against the monsters there."

"Yes." Dumbledore said, before his lips turned up in an uncharacteristic smirk. "But it doesn't seem to be working the way Voldemort intended."

"Of course not." Ron said, grinning as he crossed his arms, eyes looking up at the form of the deep in thought Harry. "He's Harry. He'll never go down that easy." He turned to look at his friends. "He'll get out. We've just gotta wait and cheer him on."

The others grinned and nodded under Dumbledore's warm gaze, and Hermione felt the tiny little ember of hope in her heart glow just a little brighter.

* * *

 ** _Whew, starting this fought me. I think I might have bitten off more than I can chew. This story is a lot more action focused than what I'm used to. Still, I'm going to stick with it, no worries._**

 ** _I meant to have this done last week, but we had a couple of major incidents at work last week, which meant days of non-stop work. When I had time to breathe, I simply didn't feel like writing. So I did other stuff._**

 ** _Since I've been asked, this isn't based on any specific Castlevania game. It's more of an amalgamation. I do have plans for a character from the games to show up (it's the obvious one, pretty sure anybody can guess who), though I do have an idea for one of the others._**

 ** _I wonder who can guess what Harry's new gauntlet is based on. It even has similar abilities. I'll give a hint: It's from an old PS2 game._**

 ** _Next week (hopefully) will be another chapter of Brightest. After that… I was thinking of starting the Zelda story from the poll. I know it didn't get many votes, but I've kinda been on a Zelda kick, so it would be nice to get that out of my head._**

 ** _I think that's it for now. Hope you enjoyed, and please review._**


	3. Stonewalled

Ron watched as Harry rested, trying to keep his worry from showing too much. Hermione and Ginny were already scared enough as it was, they didn't need him falling to pieces as well.

He rolled what he'd learned through his mind. He'd heard bits and pieces about Dracula, mostly from hearing Bill and Charlie discuss the topic, but what he remembered didn't hold a candle to what Harry was now facing, and that scared him.

The conversations going on in the Great Hall hushed when Harry got up with a sigh, picking up his weird muggle weapon and holding it with the grip of someone proficient in its use. He carefully opened the door to the room he had been resting in, aiming the weapon through the opening, ready for any unpleasant surprises.

"What did you say that thing was, Hermione?" Ron asked, more to keep their minds occupied than anything else.

"A musket, Ron." She said distractedly before continuing, apparently also trying to keep herself busy. "It's a weapon that was in wide use around four hundred years ago. There are more modern variants nowadays that are much more deadly. A single man with one of the more dangerous modern versions could kill everybody in this hall in a couple of minutes, assuming they have enough ammunition and decent aim."

Ron blinked. "Really? Wow. In that case, I guess it's a good thing he got it."

"What he has isn't as good as modern versions." She said, biting her lip. "You saw how long the reload time was. He'll only get one good shot against anything that fights at close range. That's how he beat the skeletons, after all."

Their attention was pulled back to the screen when Harry let out a cry of surprise. He'd just turned a corner when he almost took a lance to the skull. He managed to dodge, but a thin cut appeared on his cheek where the lance had scratched him, making Hermione let out a small shriek along with several other people in the hall.

Harry looked up to find what appeared to be someone in purplish medieval armor wielding a long lance. They stood confidently, lance held pointed at the ground, ready to thrust. The figure moved surprisingly smoothly for someone in no doubt restrictive armor, getting ready to strike.

Harry hopped backwards and raised his gun to aim at the figure, quickly pulling the trigger. The lancer rocked backwards from the force of the impact as the bullet hit it in the shoulder. However, it recovered quickly and slashed upward at Harry, the lance seeking to cut the wizard open. Harry quickly placed his musket in the way of the lance, blocking the strike, before moving forward while drawing his chipped sword, getting inside his enemy's range, too close for it to attack effectively. Then he slashed upwards at the thing's body, denting its breastplate and forcing it back.

The lancer twirled its weapon, trying to force Harry back, but Harry dodged around and swung his sword at the unarmored neck. His opponent didn't have a chance to react, and soon its head fell from its shoulders, the body soon following it to the floor as an orangish sort of light escaped it and went into Harry's gauntlet.

Harry sighed and reached up, touching the cut on his cheek with a scowl. " _This better not bloody scar. I have enough of those as it is…_ " He then proceeded to sheathe his sword back in his belt before picking up his musket, inspecting it for any damage. Satisfied that he would be able to continue using it he moved over to the dropped lance. Picking it up he gave it a few twirls, testing it.

Ginny frowned. "How's he going to carry all of that?"

"He's going to have to leave something behind, I guess…" Neville said slowly.

Harry, apparently, realized the same thing as he groaned. " _Dammit, I really wish I had some way of taking this with me."_ He blinked, along with the Great Hall, completely nonplussed as the lance suddenly vanished from his hands. " _Uuh…"_

"The hell?" Ron asked, face a mask of confusion.

"I guess the gauntlet has more functions than we thought." Luna said with a small smile.

It seemed like Harry had come to the same conclusion, as he was eyeing the gauntlet with a curious gaze. _"Gee, wonder what else you can do…"_ Then his look turned flat. " _Soo… How do I get it back, exactly?"_ He made a few faces that made some of the younger students giggle before the lance was suddenly back in his hands. He smiled as the students cheered. " _Excellent. Now I just need to experiment a bit more."_

The crowd watched as he proceeded to do just that, making the lance disappear and reappear again, then doing the same with the musket and two swords. Satisfied with the speed and reliability of the action, he made the lance and the swords disappear again before proceeding to reload the musket, getting ready to continue his excursion into the castle.

At the end of the hallway he was currently on there was a door and a stairway downwards. " _I need to make my way down if I want to get out of this place…"_ He murmured to himself before he began carefully making his way down the stairs, keeping himself ready for any further attacks.

That helped save him as he looked up to find a large, double bladed axe flying at his face. Once again many in the Great Hall shrieked in shock and fear as Harry dodged with a curse, the wind from the large weapon flying passed his face ruffling his hair. Then, to their surprise, the axe turned in midair and flew back the way it had come, prompting Harry to dodge again, another curse escaping his lips. It stopped when it was caught in the gauntlet of a large armored warrior.

Eyeing his new opponent Harry aimed his musket, eyes narrowed as he looked for a weakness. As the monster drew its axe back to throw it again Harry quickly shifted his aim and shot it in the helmet. The bullet didn't penetrate, but the figure rocked back from the force of the impact. Harry immediately took advantage of that, dropping his musket and rushing forward, his new lance appearing in his hands before he thrust forward, aiming for the unprotected neck once again.

"Bloody hell!" Ron yelled even as Hermione cried out when the armored figure grabbed the lance and jerked it to the side, unbalancing Harry, who promptly received a gauntleted fist to the gut, making him let go of the lance with a wheeze.

"C'mon Harry, you can do it!" Dean yelled, and a bunch of other Gryffindors, along with some Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, joined him in cheering Harry on through the projection.

As the axe armor picked up its weapon and raised it, ready to chop Harry's head off, Harry quickly summoned a sword even as he scrambled back, avoiding the knight's swing, still wheezing from the hit he took. He managed to get into a stance in spite of that, a glare on his face. _"Alright then you bastard. Round two."_ He carefully held up his weapon and moved forward, getting ready to attack.

"You can do it, Harry…" Neville whispered, his fists clenched so hard that his knuckles were bone white.

The Great Hall watched with bated breath as Harry began a deadly dance with his opponent, dodging and striking as the lumbering figure did its best to cut him down. More than one person was biting their nails at the tense situation.

Finally, after what seemed like a half hour but was actually about a minute or so, Harry managed to cut his opponent's arm off at the elbow, black blood pouring out of the wound as the observing crowd cheered. He then proceeded to slash his blade at the neck even as the knight's axe dropped. The helmeted head soon joined its arm on the floor, greenish energy leaving it to go to Harry.

Hermione and Neville sighed with relief while Ginny pumped her fist in celebration. Hermione promptly sat down with a sigh, looking exhausted. "I don't know how much more of this I can take. It's too stressful…"

Luna patted the bushy haired witch's shoulder. "Don't worry, Hermione. Our brother will make it out of this. He's stronger than You-Know-Who ever thought, and he's made it this far."

Hermione gave her odd friend a smile. "Thanks Luna. You're right, if anybody can make it out of this, it's Harry."

"And he'll be a lot stronger when he does." Ron said. "He's already learned how to use a bunch of weapons. Who knows what else he'll have learned before he leaves that castle."

"Yeah." Ginny agreed. "Maybe something he learns will help him beat You-Know-Who." She grinned. "That would be poetic, wouldn't it?" Hermione chuckled and agreed.

Everybody turned to look as Harry finished picking his gear up. He had grabbed the axe his latest opponent had been using and swung it around a few times, getting a feel for it before smiling in satisfaction and making it disappear along with the rest of his gear. Then, after reloading his musket, he continued making his way down the corridor.

As his audience watched, Harry continued exploring the castle, weapon at the ready in case of any more unpleasant surprises. Apparently he was lucky as the hallways and rooms he came across for the next five minutes or so were all empty.

The teachers and ministry personnel continued to talk away from the ears of the children, discussing what they were seeing, trying to find anything they could do in this situation that would allow them to assist Harry.

Finally, when Harry opened another door, he froze while several people in the Great Hall cursed.

He'd entered a long, large hallway with windows on either side that allowed the moonlight to stream in. What made the observers worried were the multiple enemies that filled it.

Two axe warriors, another lancer, a couple of skeletons, four of the strange little flea men that had attacked Harry before, and a skeletal musketman tucked away in the back where it could snipe him.

Harry finally reacted by cursing. _"Bloody fucking hell. Why can't anything be easy?"_ Then he scrambled aside as one of the flea men screeched and launched itself at him with a powerful jump. Harry immediately summoned his sword and swung at the little monster, bisecting it neatly and prompting another burst of color to travel into his gauntlet.

When a bullet barely missed him he quickly summoned his musket and aimed at the sniper. He dropped to a knee as another flea man launched itself at him, sailing over his head, and quickly pulled the trigger. The bullet slammed into the musketman's skull, shattering it into pieces. As the skeleton began to flail about blindly Harry made the musket vanish again and resummoned his sword, beginning to turn to attack the little monster that had jumped at him before. Unfortunately he wasn't quick enough and everybody called out an unheard warning as the thing jumped onto his back, clawing at him in a crazed rage.

Harry cried out in pain as small clawed hands scratched his back up, making more than one observer gasp. He promptly jumped up and backwards, landing on his back on top of his assailant, which let out a cry of pain. Quickly getting up, the back of his shirt bloody and torn, he quickly summoned his axe and brought it down on the creature, cutting it in two with ease.

He turned just in time to see a large axe flying at his chest. He jumped to the side, barely making it in time to avoid being cleaved in two. Before he could react further another skeleton like the one that attacked him in his cell charged at him, its bones rattling. Harry quickly lifted his axe and swung it at the charging enemy, the force and weight of the weapon smashing its dry brittle bones to pieces.

Another flea man attacked him as he dodged another thrown axe, this one almost hitting him on the return trip. This time Harry switched to his lance and brought it up as the little beast jumped at him with a screech, letting it impale itself on the lance's tip. He quickly swung it away, discarding the corpse almost negligently as he made his way toward the closest axe knight.

The knight tried to hit him with its weapon, but Harry quickly sidestepped and began to thrust his lance at the joints in its armor, drawing the armored monster's dark blood with each successful hit. Finally, as the last of the flea men moved in to attack with the second skeleton, he managed to pierce his opponent's faceplate, the lance forcing itself through the knight's skull. It immediately dropped, and Harry turned, summoning his axe while he did so.

"Wow… It's amazing how good he's gotten at physical fighting in such a short time." Susan Bones said with wide eyes from where she sat near the end of the table, having moved there to be closer to her aunt.

"I know!" Colin Creevey said with even wider eyes as Harry destroyed the second skeleton and dodged another thrown axe while attacking the flea man with his sword. "That gauntlet is really useful. And he'll only get stronger the more he fights."

As the last flea man fell that left just one axe knight, the lancer and the headless musketman to deal with.

The lancer approached first, the axe knight content to stand back and chuck its axe at him and the musketman still flailing about, not a danger to anybody.

Harry summoned his axe and got ready. When the lancer thrust at him Harry sidestepped and swung his axe. The lancer parried before turning the action into a slash which Harry barely sidestepped. Repeating his previous tactic, Harry stepped toward the lancer and attacked with an overhead slash. The lancer tried to block, but the powerful attack broke his weapon, leaving him defenseless as the axe cut deeply into his shoulder, nearly bisecting the armored figure completely. The body dropped soundlessly to the floor as Harry stood still for a moment, breathing heavily.

That almost cost him, however, as the axe of his last actually combat capable enemy flew at him, and despite the Great Hall's fervent wishes when they called out to him he didn't notice the attack till it was almost too late. He turned and dropped to the ground when he saw what was coming for him. Despite his attempt to dodge, he still took a nasty cut to his shoulder, making many of the watching students cry out and curse.

Harry got up, wincing and glaring at the axe knight even as it wound up for another throw. Quickly, while fighting through the pain, he rushed at the armored knight, his sword, barely held together now by hopes and dreams, appearing in his hands. The knight brought its axe down on him, but Harry dodged and quickly thrust his weapon at his opponent's throat once again. The blade broke once it had pierced the monster's flesh, black blood escaping from the wound as the knight dropped to its knees before falling over completely, the long piece of metal sticking out of it.

Harry sighed and tossed the broken sword aside before picking up the recently discarded axe, wincing when his shoulder and back protested. Moving over to the still flailing skeletal musketman he quickly brought the axe down on its form, crushing it to pieces and making everybody sigh in relief as the fight finally ended.

Harry then proceeded to take off his already ruined shirt, making several girls blush. He ripped the relatively clean portions of it into strips and, with some struggling and cursing, applied some of it as a bandage to the wound on his shoulder. Madame Pomfrey murmured her approval of his work.

Hermione frowned heavily as she watched Harry slump down to sit against the wall and rest. "He looks so tired…"

"It's not surprising." Ron said grimly. "We don't know what happened to him before we started watching, and he's been fighting a lot since we did."

"Plus there's the fact that he's got to be hungry and thirsty." Ginny said with a frown.

As if to emphasize her words Harry's stomach growled loudly. He patted it with a sigh. _"Quit complaining. I don't know how long it'll be till I can find food."_ He sighed again as his head hit the wall with a dull thump. _"Not like it's my first time going hungry…"_

Harry's friends, along with most of the occupants of the Great Hall, frowned at that. Neville in particular punched the table. "Dammit…"

"There's nothing we can do." Luna said sadly. "We'll just have to believe in Harry and cheer him on, even if he can't hear us."

Ginny growled but nodded with a frown on her face. "Yeah, Luna's right. Doesn't mean it doesn't make me angry, though…"

The Hall watched as Harry rested, his eyes closed as he tried to recover his strength. Multiple pockets of conversation broke out during the lull in events, everyone discussing what had happened, Harry's new abilities, and what he might learn next.

When he finally got up, gathering his weapons, everybody's eyes were riveted on the screen, wondering what would happen next.

Harry made his way to the door at the end of the hallway opposite to the one he'd entered. He glanced out the windows, once again taking in the enormous, sprawling place he'd found himself. Then with a deep breath to steel himself, he opened the door to continue trying to escape.

To everyone's surprise, the next several rooms and hallways were bare of enemies. Nothing moved to attack Harry as he made his way through the castle, his musket raised and ready to fire at all times.

Rather than become optimistic at the fact that things had calmed down, most of them became even more on edge. They were waiting with bated breath for the other shoe to drop.

When Harry entered a large, bare, stone room with nothing in it but a large statue twice his height made of crude stone, alarm bells started blaring for everybody watching.

Harry apparently felt the same, as he immediately aimed his musket at the statue, staying still as he waited for something to happen. When nothing did he slowly moved towards the door at the other end of the room, his rifle never wavering from the statue's form.

It was when he was halfway across the room when it happened. a series of glowing symbols appeared on the statue's forehead, and it began to move with the rumble of stone on stone. Harry snarled in frustration. " _I bloody knew it..."_ He then fired a shot at the statue, which didn't even seem to notice the bullet ricocheting off its form, some small chips of stone flying off.

With a curse Harry ran away from the statue, which thankfully moved rather slowly, his rifle disappearing as he tried to think of what to do now that the statue had purposefully moved between him and the door.

Ron glanced at Hermione as he heard her muttering to herself. "Hermione?"

She glanced at Ron. "Sorry, it's just... I swear I remember hearing about something similar to this..."

"It's a golem." Anthony Goldstein said as he moved over to them from the Ravenclaw table. "And not a catchall term golem, an actual golem from Jewish folklore." Several other nearby students nodded at that.

Hermione hit her palm with her fist. "That was it! A being made of clay or mud that's animated by the Hebrew word for 'truth' being inscribed on its form."

Anthony nodded. "That's it, yeah."

Ginny looked at Anthony, surprised. "How did you know that?"

Anthony shrugged. "I'm Jewish."

Any further conversation was interrupted by a crash as the golem suddenly moved with a burst of astounding speed, bringing its massive fist down on Harry's position, who promptly scrambled away with a _"Fucking hell!"_

Ron echoed his best friend before turning to Anthony. "Alright, since you know so much, how does he kill it?"

Anthony frowned, crossing his arms. "Like Hermione said, the word inscribed on the golem is _emet,_ or 'truth'. What Harry needs to do to stop it is strike the first letter off, turning it into the word for 'death', _met_. Unfortunately there's no way for us to let him know about it."

Ron ground his teeth and growled, but turned his eyes back to Harry. The Hall watched as Harry scrambled about, trying to avoid being flattened. "Cmon, Harry, get passed that thing..."

Unfortunately, every time Harry tried to move to either door out of the room, the golem was suddenly in the way, ready to turn him to paste. And Harry knew better than to damage one of his weapons against a being made of stone.

" _Think, Potter, think!"_ They heard him muttering to himself as he played keep away with the golem. " _How the hell do you stop this thing?"_ After another dodge he looked up at the glowing symbols on his head and growled. "... _Fuck it."_

The next time the golem struck the ground, rather than run away, Harry rushed the stone being and climbed up its arm. The golem shook its arm, trying to dislodge him, but harry held on for dear life.

"Oh god, Harry!" Hermione whimpered as she practically clawed at her face in fear.

Suddenly the golem moved to swat him off, its large stone arm moving to squash his head to jelly, and Harry gave a cry of fear before bunching up his legs and suddenly jumping with great force, flying off the golem's arm as its hand struck, his leap taking him several feet over the golem's head. Not having much time to react, his momentum ending and his descent beginning, he summoned one of his heavy axes and brought it down onto the golem's head with a cry. The blade skittered off the stone in a shower of sparks, just barely missing the Hebrew word, and he landed nimbly back on his feet. He looked down at his legs in surprise before looking up at the golem with a malicious grin and jumping powerfully with a cry, swinging his axe in order to hit the glowing letters, just barely missing as the golem jerked away.

Most of those in the Hall were gaping in shock. "W-what the hell?" Neville asked, completely confused.

"The jumpin monsters!" Hagrid suddenly yelled in comprehension.

"What?" Parvati Patil asked, confused.

"I get it." Said her sister, Padma. "Harry killed a bunch of those little jumping men, but we didn't see any obvious indication of what knowledge he'd gotten from them. That's because he didn't get knowledge, he got the physical ability to jump high."

"Wow... So he can get new powers by killing monsters, not just skills? That's..." Justin Finch-Fletchley said sowly.

"Amazing!" Colin and Dennis Creevey yelled out in unison as they watched Harry jump around, trying to hit the golem's weak point.

The students of the Great Hall cheered Harry on as he continued trying to hit the word on the golem's head. He had a few close calls when the stone fists almost hit him, but he hadn't been hit so far. Finally, with a roar of effort, Harry managed to bring the axe down on the words, hitting the appropriate letter by sheer luck. There was a flash of light and the golem froze. As Harry landed and turned around, ready to jump up again even as he huffed from the exertion, the golem slowly began to disperse into dust starting from its extremities. Everybody cheered as the golem turned into a large pile of stone dust, and Harry fell on his backside, laughing in triumph even as a grey light left the last of the golem's body and entered his gauntlet.

Ron clapped with a wide grin on his lips till he felt Hermione lean against him. "Hermione?" He asked, confused.

The bushy haired witch had a small smile on her lips, but that didn't stop a small whine from escaping her. "I'm not sure how much more of this I can take." She whined.

Ron chuckled and wrapped an arm around her. "Think of it this way, 'Mione. Now you have definitive proof Harry can handle whatever he runs into in that castle."

Hermione's smile grew wider. "Mmm... I suppose so..."

The students' celebrations lasted a while as Harry rested, Dumbledore and several other teachers smiling indulgently. Everybody went quiet, however, when Harry got back up, his musket once again in his hands. _"Alright then. No rest for the wicked and all that."_ He brought his rifle up to his shoulder as he opened the door. " _Bring it on..."_ With renewed confidence he made his way further into the unknown halls of the castle.

* * *

 _ **Hello all, to my last update to any of my stories for 2018. Hope everyone is having Happy Holidays and will have a great New Year.**_

 _ **This was Harry's first boss battle. I hope it delivered. I have plans for many others I look forward to getting to.**_

 _ **Since many people are still asking, this fic isn't based on any one Castlevania. It's most heavily inspired by Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow. The former because it's the game in the series I'm most familiar with, the latter because of the more modern era it's set in. However, things that happened in the games aren't a thing here. Dracula's permanent defeat in 1999 did not happen (this is set in the current time), and Alucard did not go on to take on the persona Genya Arikado. He's still kicking around though... after a fashion. So are some others from the series. We'll get to them eventually.**_

 _ **And yes, most of you did get it. The gauntlet is indeed based on the one wielded by Samanosuke in Onimusha: Warlords. I am very, very happy they announced an HD rerelease of said game for early next year, and already plan to get it. For those not familiar with it, think of an early concept of Dark Souls that was originally a spinoff of Resident Evil (and plays quite a bit like it) but with samurai and demons. Highly recommend it for you to get when it comes out.**_

 _ **Anyway, I think that's it for now. Don't forget that I have a Pat A Ron you can donate to to be able to vote on which of my stories I update. it's Pat A Ron dotcom /athanmortis.**_

 _ **Till next time, yet again, Happy Holidays and New Year. Take care.**_


	4. Beatings and Answers and Turkeys, Oh My!

Everyone in Hogwarts watched as Harry continued making his way through the rooms of the enormous castle on his way to the exit. The more observant ones noticed that he was being careful with the arm that had its shoulder slashed, though it didn't seem to be unduly affecting him. Which was good as he'd had to fight several more enemies.

Now he was walking through a room full of crates. As they watched the all heard his stomach practically roar with hunger. He paused and patted his stomach with a sigh before lifting his musket and resuming his trek.

"I'm worried, Ron." Hermione said, biting her lip as she wrung her hands.

"He'll be fine, Mione." Ron said, being as reassuring as he could in spite of his own misgivings.

"Ron, we don't know how long it's been since he ate or slept, and he's been using a lot of energy fighting, not to mention his wounds. He's got to be getting worn down. No matter how many new skills and powers he obtains, they're useless if he can't fight due to exhaustion and hunger." The bushy haired witch said, her voice shaking with fear for Harry.

The anxiety in the room rose as those who heard her shared the observation with the other students, though there were more than a few who'd already deduced the same thing. Everybody was wondering how long Harry would be able to keep going before he got too tired and made a fatal mistake.

"Five galleons say Potter kicks it within the next twenty minutes." Draco Malfoy said with a nasty smirk, making sure only his fellow Slytherins would be able to hear him.

The other Slytherin sixth years glanced at each other before one of them smirked back. "I'll take that bet." Tracey Davis said confidently. At Draco's surprised look she shrugged. "Potter's impressed me tonight. He's not only managed to survive this long, but he's also become a lot stronger. Sure, a lot of it was luck thanks to finding that gauntlet, but I'm pretty sure most people in the Great Hall wouldn't have made it far enough to even find it in the first place." She sat back, arms crossed in front of her chest. "If he could find some food and a place to get some sleep, I'd lay odds on him making it out entirely."

Draco sneered. "Really? You think he can escape that place? You said yourself he's only alive due to luck."

"Draco, without a wand I doubt you would have managed to escape from that first skeleton in the first place." Daphne Greengrass said, backing up her best friend. "You'd have been cowering in a corner of the cell, crying for daddy till you got gutted."

Let it be said that with Malfoy Sr.'s arrest, a lot of Draco's power in Slytherin house had disappeared, letting those who had never kissed his ass in the first place, like the two girls and Blaise Zabini, feel secure enough to actually talk to him the way they'd always wished to.

The blonde growled at Greengrass' words, but didn't say anything back. As obtuse as everyone knew he was, he was well aware of his diminished status among his housemates after getting smacked down during the end of the previous school year once his father was sent to Azkaban. He was not eager for a similar incident now.

Meanwhile, at the Ravenclaw table, several students of various years, even the newly sorted ones, were furiously writing down and discussing observations on the castle, the gauntlet, the monsters Harry'd faced, and the powers he'd obtained. Originally it had just been them talking amongst themselves, but after an especially clever seventh year thought of asking a house elf for quills and parchment, several of the students had taken it upon themselves to document everything.

"I wonder why alchemy isn't taught in Hogwarts?" Fourth year Jatin Agarkar asked as he wrote down an observation on Harry's musket. "I mean, if a Master of it can create something like that gauntlet…"

"Actually, we don't know how much alchemy was used to make it." Sue Li said as she watched Harry take a quick break, rechecking his bandage. "The note Harry read about it from the warden said it was made using that and the creator's magic. If she was a resident of that castle, she might not have been human, in which case her magic might have had a special component that made it work."

Jatin glanced up from his scribbling. "That doesn't answer my question."

"Actually, alchemy IS taught at Hogwarts." Seventh year Roberta Lutterworth said patiently. "It's a N.E.W.T. only elective you can choose in sixth year, but it's only available if there's enough interest in it. If only one or two people want to take it, then unfortunately they're out of luck."

Jatin glanced around at the students watching the projection. "…Something tells me that's not going to be a problem next year…"

Those around him chuckled, agreeing.

At the Hufflepuff table, Hannah Abbot glanced at Justin Finch-Fletchley. "I can't believe how strong Harry is. He's a lot stronger than I ever thought he was, even during the DA."

"Well, he showed that he was very capable last year. I think if he had a wand he'd have a much easier time of it, though." Justin said.

Hannah shook her head. "That's not what I meant. I meant the fact that he's still going on in spite of his wounds and hunger and everything else that's happened. If it was me I'd have already curled into a ball somewhere and cried my eyes out over everything. If I wasn't already dead, that is."

"I suppose you've got a point." Justin allowed. "God knows I'd have probably been killed by the musket skeletons at the least."

"I hope he can get some rest soon." She said with a sigh.

Over with the Gryffindors, feelings were a bit mixed. Being the house of the suicidal adrenaline junkies, the entire experience was both amazing and terrifying. True, Harry was in an immense amount of danger (not that that was anything new, as far as those who actually knew him were concerned), but he was doing so well and being so impressive they couldn't help but be awed.

"The Weasley twins are going to be so upset they weren't here for this." Dean Thomas said with a small chuckle.

Seamus Finnigan nodded. "Not only is harry kicking all the ass, but they could probably come up with so many joke ideas from this it isn't even funny."

"It's not funny." Lavender Brown said with a frown. "Harry's in real danger. _Again._ Except this time we're all witnessing it. I'm scared to death that I'll end up seeing him die to some horrible monster."

Seamus hurried to reassure her. "Lav, he's not going to die. He's Harry Bloody Potter. He's survived so much shite I think it would take Merlin himself to make him finally stay fuckin dead. Have some faith, eh? Just think about how good it will feel to cheer him on when he finally escapes, more powerful than You-Know-Who could ever have feared, ready to kick arse." He grinned confidently at her to make her feel better.

Lavender smiled slightly. "Yeah, I suppose you're right."

"I'm always right, Lav." The Irishman said with a chuckle. When Lavender turned her attention back to the projection, Seamus looked at his best friend, a serious look in their eyes. Yes, they both had faith in Harry, but this was different from other situations their friend had been in. They were trying to keep their own spirits up as well.

Suddenly there were multiple shrieks as Harry almost took a fireball to the face when he turned a corner into another crate strewn hallway. He backpedaled with a curse, his face red from the heat of the flame he'd just managed to avoid. After patting his face to make sure nothing had gotten burned off he growled, eyes narrowing, and raised his musket. He peered around the corner to see what had attacked him now, rifle at the ready.

At the other end of the room, near the door, sat something odd. It was what appeared to be the skull of a dinosaur, a T. Rex, most likely, but flames filled its eye sockets. It was perched on what appeared to be its spine, able to move slightly to aim, and when it spotted him it opened its mouth, the light of flames building up in the back of it before it fired a ball of flame at Harry, doing its best to roast him.

Harry fell back around the corner, wincing when the flames hit the wall beside him, the heat washing over him. " _For fuck's sake, what's next? A giant bloody robot?"_ Letting out a sigh he prepared himself to attack as everybody watched expectantly, his musket disappearing from his hand back into storage.

Harry glanced back around the corner, and the dinosaur skull fired again at him. Immediately after the flames left its mouth, Harry was on the move. He rushed out to one side of the room, running towards the skull while hugging the wall. When it fired again he pushed off, running to the opposite side of the room, hugging the other wall.

When it fired one more time, rather than zig after his latest zag, Harry used his new jumping ability to leap high, his hands actually touching the ceiling. Falling towards the skull, which didn't appear to be able to aim upwards, he made one of his huge axes appear in his hands and brought it down on his enemy using all the force and weight of his fall. The skull, sturdy as it was, shattered into pieces, the flames in its eyes winking out as it collapsed, a brackish light escaping the remains to flow into his gauntlet.

The students cheered as they saw him stand up from his landing, huffing and wiping sweat from his forehead with a smirk before sitting down on one of the many crates, axe disappearing to be replaced by his musket, which he planted against the floor, ready to be picked up at a moment's notice.

"He's doing really well with his new abilities." Neville said, arms crossed as he sat back against the table, eyes riveted on the screen. "You'd think he'd need more time to adjust to something like the jumping ability to keep from splattering himself against the wall or ceiling, but he doesn't seem to have any trouble besides the first time when he was caught by surprise."

"Perhaps there is some instinctive knowledge on how to use the abilities once he knows he has them?" Luna postulated from where she sat beside Ginny. "It's like with his knowledge of using the weapons, except he has to figure out what each ability does before he can actually use it."

Ron blinked. "That doesn't make any sense. Shouldn't instinctive knowledge include what the knowledge is about?"

"Not if it's actually instinctive and not conscious. The 'how to use it' aspect could be something he isn't actually aware of and can use without a thought. Sort of like walking or moving your arm. You don't need to think about it." Hermione said to expand on Luna's hypothesis, the blonde nodding in agreement.

The two redheads glanced at each other before shrugging.

Everybody's attention was back on the screen as Harry got up and began to make weird gestures. He opened his mouth and looked like he was trying to vomit for several long seconds before frowning and beginning to thrust out his hands, muttering too softly for them to hear.

"What's he doing now?" Ginny asked, confused.

"At a guess? Trying to figure out what he got from the thing he just destroyed. He must think it's flame projection, or something like it." Hermione said.

"Being able to breathe fire would be helpful." Ron said, interested.

"Your mastery of understatement is truly breathtaking, Ron." Hermione teased, a small smile quirking her lips in spite of herself.

"Ha, ha, ha…" Ron said sarcastically even as he watched Harry do more and more absurd things to try to launch a ball of fire somehow. "This is pretty funny. He'll never live it down when we tell him we saw everything." He wasn't the only one nearby to snicker at the thought.

Finally getting bored of his ineffectual attempts at pyrokinesis, Harry picked his rifle up with a grumble and made his way through the door that his latest enemy had been guarding. He carefully looked through the door, only to blink at what he found on the other side. When the Hogwarts inhabitants saw it, several gasped.

The storerooms he'd been travelling along for a while now had given way to a very opulent area that reminded Hermione and a few other students of the interior of some of the more lavish palaces of Britain and France. Elaborate chandeliers that hung from the high ceilings illuminated the halls and rooms brightly, flawless windows allowing a view of the outside of the castle. The walls were painted and decorated exquisitely, portraits and mirrors hanging here and there. All in all, it looked like where the rulers of a wealthy country would entertain guests.

" _…Wow…"_ Harry said softly as he closed the door behind him. " _Hopefully this means that I'm going the right way to reach the exit…"_ He glanced out a window before grimacing. " _Still pretty far, though…"_ He sighed when he heard a screech, turning to see several more flea men, a lancer, and an axe armor. " _Of fucking course…"_ With a growl of frustration he launched himself into the fight.

Everyone watching noted that he was doing even better against the various monsters now, shifting between weapons with ease in order to take advantage of any openings he found, and using his new jumping ability to good effect.

"What is that chandelier doing…?" Susan asked hesitantly. The others took their eyes away from Harry's fight to see the chandelier directly above him swaying ominously, the heavy, pointed mass of metal and crystal jingling as its motions became more violent. Finally it gave way, snapping off at the base, and began falling down, close to impacting against Harry's head.

"Harry!" Hermione shrieked. Harry looked up as he finished off his last enemy when he noticed the change in lighting and the sound of tinkling crystal. His eyes widened almost comically and without a thought crouched down and launched himself horizontally using his jumping ability, barely making it out from under the chandelier as it crashed against the marble tiled ground with a resounding crash.

Harry sat on the ground a couple of meters away from the twisted mass that had once been a beautiful light fixture, eyes still wide and his breath coming out harshly. " _Holy fucking shit, that was close!"_ He fell back against the cool floor, staring up at the ceiling. " _Bloody hell, the fucking castle itself is out to kill me, isn't it?"_

Hermione had a hand to her chest, feeling her heart race till she thought it would explode after the fright she'd just had. "Oh god that was close…"

Ron's eyes were wide, his freckles standing out in his pale face. "No kidding. I can't believe he survived that so narrowly."

After another minute of rest, Harry got up and began making his way through the hallways, keeping well clear of any other chandelier he came across.

It was several minutes later that Harry encountered his next challenge. He was walking through a room that was displaying a wide array of ornamental weapons, all of them hanging in display cases or from hooks and stands on the walls. " _Wow. You could arm an army with all of this…"_ He said, staring at a gigantic claymore leaning against a wall. Due to his distraction he didn't notice a silver rapier lift itself up off a stand on the wall. His friends, however, did.

"Oh no…" Parvati moaned. "What now?"

Her question was answered when the rapier paused behind him before rushing forward to stab Harry in the back. Most of the hall cried out, sure they were about to see him die. But Harry noticed the movement out of the corner of his eye when he began turning around and scrambled to the side with a yelp, managing to avoid a severe wound but receiving a scratch on his non-injured arm. Several eyes in the Great Hall narrowed at the sight of the scratch.

Harry immediately summoned his chipped and worn katana before beginning to fight the floating rapier, parrying ever strike while he tried to think of a way to stop it considering nothing was holding it. As he fought, however, the thrusting sword managed to score several more wounds, though those confirmed something for several of those watching.

"Is it just me, or are the injuries Harry's taking from that thing less serious than they should be?" Katie Bell asked as she kept her hands curled into fists.

Katie's Hufflepuff friend, Leanne Billings, glanced at her. "I noticed that too. The scratches aren't as deep as they should be considering how hard the sword is striking him."

"That's it!" Colin cried out, jumping to his feet, making several people jump.

"What!?" Romilda Vane snapped as she clutched at her chest after the surprise from Colin's shout.

"I've been trying to figure out what powers Harry got from the golem and the skull thing." Colin said in his usual excitable manner. "Maybe they're different than the others and don't give Harry some active power, but something passive, like more durability!" As everybody stared at him he shuffled his feet. "Well, it makes sense, doesn't it? What else could a monster made of rock give him? It musta just made him tougher."

The others considered it. "That… makes sense…" Katie said slowly. "Wow, that could be a real life saver."

"It probably already is." Leanne said. "The wounds from the rapier might have been debilitating instead of irritating without that, and Harry might not be able to hold it off."

While this discussion was going on Harry was still trying to hold the rapier off. Finally, in frustration, he slashed his sword at where a person would be if they were wielding it… and met resistance, much to his surprise. The rapier recoiled, as though its bearer had been struck, and Harry's eyes narrowed. _"So that's your game…"_ With a menacing grin Harry went on the offensive now that he had a target, parrying the increasingly desperate rapier between strikes at its 'body'.

The Hogwarts students cheered as they watched Harry take control of the fight, striking out at whatever it was that was controlling the rapier. Finally he stabbed forward, and there was a cry that sounded like it came from some sort of animal before the rapier dropped to the floor with a clatter, what looked like a soap bubble appearing from out of midair and streaming into the gauntlet.

There was a cheer and some applause at Harry's victory as he once again took a moment to rest, holding his growling stomach. The children spoke amongst themselves, sharing Colin's observation with those that hadn't heard and discussing what Harry had gotten from his latest opponent. Some guessed invisibility, others that he could now handle a rapier.

In the end the second group was right, as when Harry was rested enough he picked up the rapier and went through a few movements. He didn't exactly have the ability of an expert, but that was to be expected. At least he had a new weapon he could use.

Once again Harry began making his way through the decorated hallways, looking for a way out. A couple of people wondered why he didn't take any of the weapons in the room he'd just been in, but others had already deduced that it was because none of them were ones he knew how to use.

That or it slipped his mind. That was possible too.

After another battle with a zombie samurai, a musket skeleton, and a new monster that was just a gigantic eye with a long scorpion tail that reached below it which floated around and tried to sting him, Harry opened another opulent door… and stopped dead as his audience grew excited.

Inside was a formal dining room that royalty would use. But that's not what drew attention.

The enormous table for thirty people was laden with enough food to match the Welcoming Feast the Hogwarts students had recently consumed, all of it looking fresh, steam rising from the hot dishes.

Everybody could hear Harry's stomach roar, and few were surprised when he made his musket vanish in order to attack the food. He reached forward and grabbed a turkey leg, stuffing it in his mouth like a ravenous beast, eating like he hadn't eaten in months.

Which they supposed was close enough to the truth.

Still, not everyone was happy that he'd found some sustenance. "Harry, no! It could be poisoned!"

"He doesn't have a choice, Hermione." Neville pointed out reasonably. "He's starving, and if he doesn't get some food soon he's going to collapse. You said it yourself: he's tired, hungry, and exhausted after all the fighting. We'll just have to hope this won't kill him, cause he'll definitely die without it."

Hermione whimpered but went silent as she watched Harry devour the food in front of him ravenously.

Harry, for his part, had stuffed half a warm, buttery roll into his mouth, moaning in almost orgasmic bliss as he felt his stomach begin filling. He kept going without pause for almost five minutes before finally beginning to slow down. He sighed with relieve even as he continued grabbing things to eat.

 _"I trust everything is to your satisfaction?"_ A female voice suddenly said, making both Harry and those in Hogwarts jump in surprise. Harry dropped his food from the shock, turning around as his new rapier appeared in his hand, looking for who spoke.

Out of a small alcove neither Harry nor those watching had noticed came a beautiful young woman in a dark purple stereotypical maid's outfit, the skirt reaching her knees and the traditional headpiece on her head. She was very good looking, but there was something inhuman about her. She had blue hair and violet eyes with slit pupils like a cats which were locked on his own.

 _"Who are you?"_ Harry asked, and everyone could hear his surprise at finding someone that could speak and wouldn't just attack in this castle.

The woman curtseyed, a picture perfect high society maid. _"I am Persephone. I am one of the maids that cares for this section of Castlevania."_

 _"Casltevania? That's where I am? Who's the master of this castle, then?"_ Harry asked, still eyeing the woman wearily.

 _"This is the castle of my lord Dracula."_ She said primly. " _It is nearly time for his full resurrection, and there won't be any interference this time thanks to the wizard who left you here."_

The alarm those words caused among the teachers and Ministry personnel was evident, and within seconds a low level auror tore out of the Great Hall on Amelia Bone's orders.

Meanwhile, Harry's eyes had narrowed. _"So your master is in league with Voldemort. Guess it's even more obvious now that he's my enemy."_

Persephone nodded placidly. _"Yes. The wizard agreed to assist my Master while asking for aid in his own efforts towards conquest. He left you here to have us kill you. A sort of down payment, if you will."_

Harry readied his rapier. _"And I assume you're going to be killing me now?"_ Persephone nodded serenely as she settled into a martial arts stance. Harry sighed. _"Alright, let's get on with it…"_

Immediately Persephone launched herself at Harry, leading with a kick. Harry dodged to the side before thrusting with the rapier, which the demonic maid fluidly moved to the side of. They began fighting in earnest, the maid punching and kicking while Harry did his best to hold her off by switching between various weapons to throw her off.

Everybody winced as Persephone's foot planted itself firmly in Harry's stomach, making him bend over and vomit a bit of what he'd just eaten. Her fist then struck his injured shoulder, making him cry out, before the other slammed into his cheek, sending him sprawling.

"Oh no, Harry!" "Get up, man!" "You can do it, Potter!" "Kick that bint's ass!"

The students cried out encouragement to Harry even though they knew he couldn't hear them.

Thankfully Harry managed to recover enough to roll away from a stomp that broke the marble tile, quickly scrambling to his feet. He materialized his musket and fired at Persephone, hitting her in the shoulder, making her stagger.

Harry jumped up with a cry, summoning his axe in order to use the same tactic he used against the dinosaur skull. Persephone managed to dodge, however, quickly punishing him for the attack with a palm strike to his side, sending him back against the table, scattering food all over the wood and the floor.

Her shoulder still bleeding blue blood, Persephone moved to finish Harry off, but he jumped to the other side of the table to buy himself some time. The maid wasn't deterred, however, and quickly hopped up onto the table, ready to beat his face in.

Still clutching his axe, he reared back and threw it at her the way the armored being that'd borne it had, the large hunk of metal sailing straight at her chest. Persephone jumped to the side, but Harry was already slashing with a katana. The rusty, chipped and dented blade broke when it struck her, but not before it severed her spine. She let out a cry as she fell off the table, her legs no longer supporting her.

Harry didn't hesitate and summoned another axe to his hand, immediately swinging down. Persephone's head came off with ease, and a purple light escaped her body to enter his gauntlet.

Harry stumbled back and fell against the wall, holding his side in pain and gagging as he looked at Persephone's body.

"She may not have been human, but she acted enough like one that this can't be easy on Harry." Luna said seriously even as the other students celebrated another victory.

Ron sighed and nodded in agreement.

Eventually Harry recovered enough to get back up. He gathered his discarded weapons and moved towards the alcove Persephone had been hiding in, finding a door. Opening it he found a small, comfy room with a couple of couches and a lit fireplace as the only illumination, as there were no windows or other doors.

Harry hesitated, but soon he moved back into the dining room and grabbed more food before heading into the small room.

"What's he doing?" Someone asked.

"I believe he's preparing himself to get some sleep." Dumbledore said as Harry closed the door and pushed one of the heavy couches against it to keep it from opening. Then he lay down on the other couch, letting out a long sigh, his eyes closing. The headmaster turned towards his students. "I believe that Mr. Potter has the right idea. You should all head to bed now. It is after one o'clock in the morning, and you need to sleep, especially after all of this excitement." What dissent the students mustered was undercut by the yawning of many of them, especially amongst the younger years. "Of you trot, there we go…"

As the Great Hall began to empty, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny and Luna stood their ground, gazing up at Dumbledore. "We want to stay and keep an eye on Harry." Ron said.

"I will be staying here to keep an eye on Mr. Potter, children. Go to bed." McGonagall assured them, but sighed when she saw they weren't moving.

Dumbledore smiled slightly, his eyes twinkling, before waving his wand, sleeping bags appearing much like they had several years ago. "I trust you will try to actually sleep?"

The teens nodded and quickly grabbed sleeping bags, setting them on the ground and transfiguring their robes into pajamas. As they did so, Dumbledore bid them good night and left with the other teachers and the Ministry personnel, McGonagall changing into cat form and laying down on one of the tables as the candles that illuminated the Great Hall began to go out, her gaze locked on Harry's sleeping form in the projection.

Hermione looked at Harry as well as her eyes slid closed. "…Good night, little brother…" She whispered as sleep took her.

* * *

 ** _Here we have the newest chapter of Hunter, as voted on by my Patrons. Hope everyone enjoyed._**

 ** _I don't really have much to say except to remember that you can vote one which of my stories I should update on my Pat A Ron at dotcom /athanmortis._**

 ** _Till next time. Bye all._**


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